Texas Voluntary Evacuation Zone

The Keystone XL Voluntary Evacuation Zone is based on the health department response to a diluted bitumen spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. Drawn from the Keystone Mapping Project Google Earth view, these images form the basis for Thomas Bachand’s VEZ Grid Abstracts series, an exploration of both our perception of, and impact upon, the landscape. Combining satelite imagery with custom mapping features, the panels examine the interplay of physical and human geography. In series, the photography reveals broader patterns and larger questions.

Keystone Mapping Project

The Keystone Mapping Project (KMP) is an internationally recognized multimedia and photography project examining land use, climate policy, and transparency through an exploration of the Keystone XL — the proposed 2,000 mile diluted bitumen pipeline that bisects the North American Continent. The controversial pipeline has become emblematic of our inability to reconcile world demand for fossil fuels with the environmental imperatives imposed upon modern civilization. This is a modern landscape described by markets, regulatory documents, legislation, bureaucracies, and public relations.

Underlying the Keystone controversy are basic perceptions of the land and land use. Official Department of State environmental reports do not contain referenced maps and mapping data, and thus cannot be properly reviewed. What are we to make of this hidden landscape? What is the story told by computerized satellite and street cameras?

To fully explore the Keystone Mapping Project, including other photo series and the only publicly available interactive maps of the pipeline, visit:

Copyright Notice: All imagery contained on www.thomasbachand.com is the sole property of Thomas Bachand, and cannot be reproduced, copied, used, or downloaded without the expressed written permission of Thomas Bachand. All rights reserved.